Magnuska - Labour and employment law

Katarzyna Magnuska

Katarzyna Magnuska, attorney-at-law, advises on individual and collective labour law and immigration law, with a particular focus on cross-border relocation of talent and managers (global mobility). She advises clients on employment-related aspects of restructuring of enterprises, in particular taking part in employment aspects of due diligence reviews. She advises on termination or change of employment conditions of key employees, collective redundancies, take-overs of employees, and protection of employers’ trade secrets and competitor-sensitive know-how (non-competition, confidentiality, and non-solicitation agreements).
For many years she has advised clients on posting of employees and legalisation of stay and work of non-EU nationals and their families in Poland.

21 April 2022

whistleblowers

New draft bill on whistleblowers – is it better than the last one?

It has already been four months since the deadline to implement the EU Whistleblowing Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law).

14 October 2021

whistleblowers

Polish Whistleblowing Act: What should employers expect?

Protection of all categories of staff, including job candidates and former employees. A broad range of infringements subject to reporting. Protection of whistleblowers against all retaliatory measures, including defamation suits. A duty to establish internal whistleblowing procedures. These are just a few of the points included in the guidelines for the bill implementing the EU’s Whistleblower Directive.

21 July 2020

litigation

Higher costs for reinstatement to work?

The costs of unlawfully dismissing an employee are already high. Reinstatement to work and the former employer’s obligation to pay an employee’s salary for the time when he/she was out of work or, alternatively, compensation, costs of a protracted court case before the labour court (in Poland the judgment in a court of first instance is issued approximately two years after the claim is filed) means that the employer’s defeat in a labour court may be particularly severe for the company (and its budget).

9 July 2020

coronavirus

The Coronavirus has caused trouble with employee vacation leave

The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and restrictions that it has evoked has brutally forced employees to review their vacation leave plans. On one hand this was caused, among others, by the closing of borders and mandatory quarantine while, on the other, by the sudden decrease in demand for labour in certain sectors. The availability of certain employees (even remotely) has become imperative for further business, whereas remaining employees have faced the perspective of dismissal or at least mandatory leave. It should be noted that entities conducting business in sectors listed in...

13 January 2020

monitoring contract termination

A mystery shopper is not always useful in dismissing an employee

Entrepreneurs have long been aware that they can gain advantage over competitors, not only through the high quality of their products or services, but also by managing customer satisfaction. Whispered marketing is a powerful brand image building tool nowadays, and a firm’s success is increasingly dependent on the number of “likes”, stars, and other forms of customer recognition it has achieved on social media. One negative opinion, if repeated and passed on sufficiently frequently, can effectively undermine long-term marketing and PR achievements. This is why firms attach great...

19 November 2019

mobbing

Uprooting mobbing at firms

A major change to the Labour Code entered into force on 7 September 2019, making it easier for employees to pursue claims for mobbing. Under Art. 943 of the Polish Labour Code, an employee may seek compensation (zadośćuczynienie) for a detriment to the employee’s health caused by mobbing, as well as damages (odszkodowanie) in an amount no less than the minimum wage. But previously, as a condition for seeking damages, the employee had to terminate the employment on the grounds of mobbing.